Friday, April 07, 2017

NATIONAL POLITICAL CONFERENCE

THE PURPOSE OF THE NATIONAL POLITICAL CONFERENCE

By: Kassim Ahmad

8th April, 2017

It was late for me to get up, as I normally do at 2.30 in the morning
to do my tahajjud prayers and go to work in my office. Although late
(3.45 A.M) I could not sleep anymore, thinking of the National Political
Conference that my friends and I are planning to hold before the end of
this year.

What is its purpose? It is extremely important to spell it out clearly.
Total reforms. Not just any reforms. It should move the Malaysia masses
that the Government must heed.

Papers, not too many, must be prepared and thoroughly debated and
discussed. We should have and example from our past and it should be
relevant. We should pass a good resolution.

When I was young, I used to write poems and short stories. I published them in an anthology titled Kemarau di Lembah (Penang:
1907). The titled can be literally translated as "drought in a
valley", meaning a country lacking in ideas and great thoughts.

So I dragged myself out of bed, prayed quickly and went into my office
to write this article. I never thought I have a life mission. I was born
into a poor family in the deep rural areas of northern Kedah. Although I
was a gifted student in the secondary school in Alor Setar, at times I
was mad enough to want to be a poor man! So loving of me of the poor!.
That was why I joined the socialist club when I was in the University.
Later I even became the leader of a socialist party for eighteen
years!

As I said, I never thought I have a life mission. Now it seems a life
mission has been thrust upon me. I re-read my poem entitled "Satu
Sumpahan", translated "A Pact" written in 1958 when I was 26. I shall
reproduce this poem in full here:

/Those who are my brothers, come/I don't care what name you have/ we have a pact to make/against the enemies of our land/

/Admiral Cheng Ho has returned/in truth, I don't care if not in strength/Rama is safe with Sita/his golden arrow is strung/

/Then let Tuah rise and speak/what of god and jin/what of hue and blood/what of flesh/we are born men/

/Those
who are my brothers, fall out/I don't care for style and parliament/we
shall sign here in blood/against the enemies of mankind./

/Together,
together march my brothers/like Tuah and Jebat of old/we have named our
sacred land /ourselves will stand along her shores/come then ye busy
police of the world/

Well, I do not know how I could have penned that! Reading that makes my blood boil!

Now I guess that National Political Conference has to accomplish a Herculine task. Good luck! . .

About Me

(About Kassim Ahmad
By: M. Bakri Musa)
Kassim Ahmad is Malaysia's foremost thinker and philosopher. He grabbed national headlines in the 1950s with his dissertation on the characters of Hang Tuah (Perwatakan Hang Tuah), the Malay literary classic. In it he challenged the traditional interpretation and made the hitherto hero Hang Tuah as nothing more than a palace hack, and elevated the anti-hero Hang Jebat as the true hero, willing to kill even the sultan in defence of honor and principles.
Kassim was jailed for nearly five years under the ISA for daring to express openly his political views, an experience which he recounted in his book, Universiti Kedua (Second University).
Kassim again shook the Malay world with his "Hadith: A Re-Examination" in which he challenges the infallibility of the purported words of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.
Except for an honorary doctorate in Letters conferred by the National University of Malaysia, the country has not seen fit to honor this great public intellectual.
June 2005